NUFC stars to wear charity shirt in support of Mark Allison

Apr 10 2010 The Journal

UNITED stars were expected to swap their stripes for a special charity T-shirt at their pre-match warm-up today.

The players pledged to step out on to the pitch wearing a printed top in support of marathon man Mark Allison at their 45-minute training session before they faced Blackpool at St James’ Park.

Mark, 38, of Shotley Bridge, in County Durham, is planning to run thousands of miles across America in aid of two charities next year and is hoping to raise £50,000. The footballers were set to wear tops printed with Mark’s ‘Run Geordie Run’ logo as they prepared for their game in a bid to raise awareness of his courageous bid to run 3,100 miles across the States in just 100 days.

The father-of-one, who works as an IT contractor for Northern Rock, sets off for his mammoth run of lifetime in May 2011.

Dedicated NUFC fan Mark is undertaking the Herculean effort to raise money to split between the St Benedict’s Hospice, in Sunderland, which cared for his mother Margery, 67, who died of lung cancer, and the Children’s Foundation – a North East-based charity promoting the health and wellbeing of youngsters in the region.

So far he has raised £8,000. Around £3,000 has been from the sale of his T-shirts.

Mark, who is on a strict diet and gruelling training programme for his run, added: “It’s a really good start at such an early stage in the fundraising and I hope this will help give some publicity to the run.”

The T-shirts are on sale online for £10 each. For more information about Mark’s challenge, or to buy a T-shirt, visit www.rungeordierun.com

To make a donation, go to www.justgiving. com/rungeordierun1